There's never really a calm time in the game industry. Technological and market forces are constantly pushing the industry in new directions, both as a business and as an artistic medium. Still, 2012 felt like an especially eventful year for gaming, with long-standing trends like digital distribution, user-created content, and mobile/tablet gaming coming together in some new and interesting ways. Take a look at the evidence with the biggest gaming stories of the year.

Despite all of the hoopla around crowdfunding, most of these success stories have yet to result in actual playable games or usable products. Plus, there have already been some high profile failures for the model. Going into 2013, it will be interesting to see which of these projects live up to their promise and which inevitably end up disappointing backers.

Steam transforms itself

The version of Valve's ultra-popular digital delivery service that entered 2012 is quite different from the one that left the year, thanks to a few major initiatives changing the face of Steam. The biggest might be the introduction of Big Picture mode, a front-end redesign meant for use on the living room TV. The new feature presages a Steam-based living room PC planned for 2013 that could have a major impact on the market for traditional game consoles.

Mass Effect 3's ending causes controversy

No matter how Bioware decided to end its epic, galaxy-spanning trilogy full of branching narrative and emotionally resonant characters, there were going to be people that are unsatisfied with that conclusion. What makes the wide-ranging protests over Mass Effect 3's ending different than similar Internet grumbling over other gaming narratives was the sheer scale of that dissatisfaction... and the response it garnered from the developer.

It took only days after the game's release for disgruntled fans to organize online, eventually growing into a throng tens of thousands strong. The continuing furor eventually elicited a formal response from Bioware, and led Bioware co-founder Ray Muzyka to say publicly that he found the reception to the game "painful." When that failed to quell the controversy, Bioware soon promised a free "Extended Cut" DLC to help expand and clarify the controversial ending. That DLC hit in June. It wasn't the "new" ending that some purists feared, but it did add some important context that seemed missing from the original conclusion.

Fan opinion about the move, and on its impact on Mass Effect's lasting legacy, is still hopelessly split. The whole saga could prove to be a watershed moment in the relationship between players and developers.

Diablo III disappoints fans

With fans having waited well beyond a decade since the launch of the mega-popular Diablo II, it was probably impossible for expectations surrounding Blizzard's oft-delayedDiablo III to be higher. Still, it's safe to say Blizzard did not meet those expectations with the game's launch in May.

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

And can we please stop treating Mass Effect's ending "debacle" like a real issue? It wasn't that bad.

I think the bigger problem surrounding the ending was the complete non-mention it got in reviews, and subsequent tone deafness from the press. What ever you think of the ending I think we can all agree it was not up to the standard set by the rest of the game.

No mention of the WarZ scandal? That was bigger news than the Diablo III issues.

I think it feels that way because War Z is more recent, but the Diablo III thing felt bigger at the time, since Blizzard is so well known and millons of players were affected.

Certainly it affected more people, but I didn't see nearly the degree of ire raised in all corners of the internet. People were mildly disappointed or annoyed by the Diablo release- the WarZ scandal made new history for Steam and seems like it will go down as one of the worst launches of all time. Not saying Diablo III shouldn't make the list, just surprised WarZ didn't, (taking into account the recency, although it was getting terrible press as far back as October, see Rhinocrunch video and the lengthy reddit threads surrounding it).

Diablo III's main issue wasn't it's endgame, RMAH, or even persistent online connection requirement. No, this game was done in by trying to force a quiet and brooding ARPG series into the loud, verbose, and colorful mold of a WoW dungeon and its throwaway characters.

Diablo is meant to be Terror incarnate, not a bumbling, mustache-twirling villain that calls you every three minutes before dying like a bitch.

The series used to celebrate the triumph of heroic mortals against demonic forces and impossible odds; now - as a Seraphim - you win by default.

Beloved characters? Slain by Saturday-Morning-Cartoon villains. Free-roam content? Discarded for missions on rails. Peace and quiet? Murdered to make room for the worst dialog west of the Jersey Shore.

I wanted so much to love the Mass Effect Series, but I came to it fairly late. The news about the ending of Mass Effect 3 persuaded me to stop playing Mass Effect 2 and never buy Mass Effect 3. Having a good, solid ending matters a great deal.

I wanted so much to love the Mass Effect Series, but I came to it fairly late. The news about the ending of Mass Effect 3 persuaded me to stop playing Mass Effect 2 and never buy Mass Effect 3. Having a good, solid ending matters a great deal.

You have missed out, good sir. Mass Effect 3 is a great game, I mean awesome. The criticism of the original ending was a little overblown by fans IMO, but you know why? Because they were so emotionally invested in the entire series, including 99% of ME3. It was that good, and the experience as a whole was incredible.

No mention of the WarZ scandal? That was bigger news than the Diablo III issues.

I think it feels that way because War Z is more recent, but the Diablo III thing felt bigger at the time, since Blizzard is so well known and millons of players were affected.

But was it really a disappointment for those millions? Probably not. But the disappointment from the minority was more vocal due to hype, popularity of D2 and millions were playing. There have been numerous games the past year that are released on Steam and are essentially in beta still. The majority who purchased are disappointed. But we do not hear about it for the full year.

Diablo 3 is perfect example of what happens when your game is more about making money than the actual game play itself.

The game play is fantastic and fun. Expectations and hype made the die hards nit pick at everything that wasn't D2.

You must be thinking of the numerous pay to win, pay to get higher score games. They are designed in ways for you to have the best success to pay. D3 I do not have to waste my time like in D2 in chat channels or trade games looking for trades. AH is a great tool to sell and buy. If you really wanted to pay real money for something, go ahead. But its not forced. Would happen in D2 if you never got the right items to barter with for the ultimate weapon you sought.

While they did not have the right bridge length in difficulty spikes for a solo play non AH run quite right, they worked on making it better and balanced it. You could dead end yourself in D2 if you had the worst luck on drops and/or put your skill points into the worst possible places (maxed skeleton necro go!). The game was made better over the years with numerous patches.

I wanted so much to love the Mass Effect Series, but I came to it fairly late. The news about the ending of Mass Effect 3 persuaded me to stop playing Mass Effect 2 and never buy Mass Effect 3. Having a good, solid ending matters a great deal.

You have missed out, good sir. Mass Effect 3 is a great game, I mean awesome. The criticism of the original ending was a little overblown by fans IMO, but you know why? Because they were so emotionally invested in the entire series, including 99% of ME3. It was that good, and the experience as a whole was incredible.

Agreed. The whole series is terrific. I disagree about the original ending because it was shockingly bad.Now with the extended ending it makes ME3 tolerable to play through. Most everyone agreed most of ME3 was awesome but with a killjoy ending that was poorly done.

The poor launch of the Vita and Sony's refusal to much really of anything to spike interest has been a pretty big ongoing story. The PSP still outsells the Vita in Japan. Their prediction of total units was downgraded by 2 million units. '

New software is the first thing to fix it. But like the 3DS, I felt it was not the lack of software (3DS had decent software in the first 6 months) but the crazy price in a market full of iOS and Android devices.

3DS is $170. Games saves to game card. Device still includes 2-4Gb SD card (which are dirt cheap as it is).

Vita is $250. (Less during holiday deals). Then it requires $30-$100 Memory Card before you can use the device. Also only sold by Sony.

Certainly it affected more people, but I didn't see nearly the degree of ire raised in all corners of the internet. People were mildly disappointed or annoyed by the Diablo release- the WarZ scandal made new history for Steam and seems like it will go down as one of the worst launches of all time. Not saying Diablo III shouldn't make the list, just surprised WarZ didn't, (taking into account the recency, although it was getting terrible press as far back as October, see Rhinocrunch video and the lengthy reddit threads surrounding it).

The WarZ scandal is all flash, there's no actual substance. At the end of the day it's still a niche game being developed by a third-tier independent studio with no appreciable market impact. To say that it is "bigger news than the Diablo III issues" is a gross understatement. There are few in the industry with more clout than Activision-Blizzard and their mistakes, if you can call them that, with Diablo III could have long-term consequences. The WarZ will be all but forgotten once Titov shuts his mouth and stops sending off press-releases.

I wanted so much to love the Mass Effect Series, but I came to it fairly late. The news about the ending of Mass Effect 3 persuaded me to stop playing Mass Effect 2 and never buy Mass Effect 3. Having a good, solid ending matters a great deal.

"I stopped playing because I heard the ending of the sequel was unsatisfying" is one of the worst cop-outs I've ever heard. Look, if ME2 didn't interest you enough to keep playing, then it didn't and that's perfectly fine, but blaming it on someone else's opinion of the epilogue of a separate game really makes you look pretty weak-minded. It was too short, but it wasn't fun-memory-turns-to-ashes bad. Admitting that you'd rather take someone else's word that something you're enjoying will suck than finding out for yourself is cheating yourself out of life's infinite possibilities.

Certainly it affected more people, but I didn't see nearly the degree of ire raised in all corners of the internet. People were mildly disappointed or annoyed by the Diablo release- the WarZ scandal made new history for Steam and seems like it will go down as one of the worst launches of all time. Not saying Diablo III shouldn't make the list, just surprised WarZ didn't, (taking into account the recency, although it was getting terrible press as far back as October, see Rhinocrunch video and the lengthy reddit threads surrounding it).

The WarZ scandal is all flash, there's no actual substance. At the end of the day it's still a niche game being developed by a third-tier independent studio with no appreciable market impact. To say that it is "bigger news than the Diablo III issues" is a gross understatement. There are few in the industry with more clout than Activision-Blizzard and their mistakes, if you can call them that, with Diablo III could have long-term consequences. The WarZ will be all but forgotten once Titov shuts his mouth and stops sending off press-releases.

I'm a little confused. "To say that it is "bigger news than the Diablo III issues" is a gross understatement." seems to conflict with the rest of your post...

In any case, it won't be forgotten anytime soon, at the very least, they are the first title to have their purchase pulled from Steam due to what amounts to fraudulent claims. That's something that's very difficult to live down, and yet... their relationship with valve survives, and there are more players than ever.

I'm a little confused. "To say that it is "bigger news than the Diablo III issues" is a gross understatement." seems to conflict with the rest of your post...

My bad, I meant overstatement.

Quote:

In any case, it won't be forgotten anytime soon, at the very least, they are the first title to have their purchase pulled from Steam due to what amounts to fraudulent claims. That's something that's very difficult to live down, and yet... their relationship with valve survives, and there are more players than ever.

And yet you could probably take every one of those players and it would be a fraction of a percent of the number of players that Blizzard has. The WarZ is a non-entity in the industry. It makes for a fun story thanks to Titov and his inability to shut up but beyond that there's nothing there that will have any real impact. Look at the fracas surrounding the Avenger controller. It was all over the gaming media, Ars included, for over a month. The PR douche became a meme. Today it's mentioned in passing and then quickly forgotten again.

Diablo III was one of the most anticipated titles in a decade put out by a developer that was considered to have an impeccable pedigree. It's news. The WarZ train wreck isn't. Titov just happens to have become the target for the internet hate machine.

"I stopped playing because I heard the ending of the sequel was unsatisfying" is one of the worst cop-outs I've ever heard. Look, if ME2 didn't interest you enough to keep playing, then it didn't and that's perfectly fine, but blaming it on someone else's opinion of the epilogue of a separate game really makes you look pretty weak-minded. It was too short, but it wasn't fun-memory-turns-to-ashes bad. Admitting that you'd rather take someone else's word that something you're enjoying will suck than finding out for yourself is cheating yourself out of life's infinite possibilities.

To be fair, ME2 was kind of a big pile of WTF right in between the masterpieces of story telling of ME1 and ME3. The Gameplay was vastly improved, as was the quality of the visuals, and LotSB and the Kasumi DLC were extremely compelling, but ME2 failed to capture the essence of the series.

If you loved ME, and heard terrible things about ME3 whilst in the middle of playing ME2, you might think the series was going in the toilet and it would be best to hang it up now. You would be dead wrong, even with the (rumored) crummy ending. Rumored because while I love Mass Effect and loved Mass Effect 3, I got hung up on MP and have never finished the game. I got about 2/3rds through the campaign (completed Rannock) and then decided I should see about putting some work into getting my war assets up to spec ... and haven't looked back.

I play ME3MP regularly, in fact, the Mass Effect Series is literally the only games I have played in 2012. I started metagaming with replaying ME1 and ME2 a few months before ME3 came out, and started playing multiplayer around June/July ... still haven't gotten to the ending. It's been so long that I've restarted the campaign once or twice, but just keep getting pulled off track my multiplayer.

To be fair, ME2 was kind of a big pile of WTF right in between the masterpieces of story telling of ME1 and ME3. The Gameplay was vastly improved, as was the quality of the visuals, and LotSB and the Kasumi DLC were extremely compelling, but ME2 failed to capture the essence of the series.

I enjoyed ME2 a lot more than ME3 - I re-played ME2 as soon as I had finished it the first time. Somehow the general gameplay of ME3 just seemed less interesting - perhaps because of less variety. So for me the ending didn't make any difference since I was already disappointed.

Diablo III's main issue wasn't it's endgame, RMAH, or even persistent online connection requirement. No, this game was done in by trying to force a quiet and brooding ARPG series into the loud, verbose, and colorful mold of a WoW dungeon and its throwaway characters.

Diablo is meant to be Terror incarnate, not a bumbling, mustache-twirling villain that calls you every three minutes before dying like a bitch.

The series used to celebrate the triumph of heroic mortals against demonic forces and impossible odds; now - as a Seraphim - you win by default.

Beloved characters? Slain by Saturday-Morning-Cartoon villains. Free-roam content? Discarded for missions on rails. Peace and quiet? Murdered to make room for the worst dialog west of the Jersey Shore.

RIP a beloved franchise...until the next time I fire up Diablo II.

I couldn't agree more. A lot of fans of the fantasy hack and slash genre of games were hoping that Blizzard would again provide something new, revitalizing the genre. Instead Blizzard released a stale clone of their own game with updated graphics using a style millions of gamers have been staring at for years now and a story offensive to anyone old enough to make use of their RMAH.

Mass Effect 3's ending deserved all the grief it got. It was utterly nonsensical, and all the choices you'd made throughout the entire trilogy (yes, I took one character from ME1 to ME2 to ME3) ended up not mattering one iota. It was entirely out of character with the rest of the trilogy. And for a story-driven RPG, that's a big problem.

Haven't played ME3 yet because I was pretty disappointed w/ ME2's end boss basically being a complete ripoff of Contra 3...

I looked up the Contra 3 final boss, and I'm not seeing the similarity at all. I mean, they're both big and they both have arms they try to hit you with...that's about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg61yRc_0ds

And can we please stop treating Mass Effect's ending "debacle" like a real issue? It wasn't that bad.

I think the bigger problem surrounding the ending was the complete non-mention it got in reviews, and subsequent tone deafness from the press. What ever you think of the ending I think we can all agree it was not up to the standard set by the rest of the game.

The first 99% of Mass Effect 3 was brilliant. Generally well written, capped off multiple threads well (genophage, geth).

...then the ending hit, and threw everything in the previous three games completely out of the window so the two main writers could perform literary masturbation with some Philosophy 101.

Really, they should have gone with the Indoctrination Theory. That made a lot more sense. Though when your preferred fan theory for making sense of an ending is 'it was all a dream', you know you've well and truly fucked up as a writer.

Haven't played ME3 yet because I was pretty disappointed w/ ME2's end boss basically being a complete ripoff of Contra 3...

I looked up the Contra 3 final boss, and I'm not seeing the similarity at all. I mean, they're both big and they both have arms they try to hit you with...that's about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg61yRc_0ds

Diablo 2 sucked. Diablo 3, being fundamentally the same game (but a better version of it), still sucked, because the suck is deep-rooted.

Yeah, there it is. The problem is that fundamentally all those games are gear grinds, and we've had dozens - hundreds - of them released. Diablo III is a better game than Diablo 2. But as they say, you can polish a turd, but its still a turd. Gear grinds are fundamentally dissatisfying, and when you end up with people getting horribly addicted to things and spending 550 hours on them (seriously) you realize just what happens.

Very few games are good for 550 hours. The only real exceptions to that are competitive multiplayer games, and multiplayer roleplaying games (and by that, I mean D&D, not MMOs). Gear grinds are very addictive, but they aren't actually very much -fun-.

Diablo 3 was disappointing in terms of the amount of content compared to other games that took a fraction of the time to develop. I had either played demos or watched videos of the game for an uncountable number of game conferences. I enjoyed the first couple of times playing it, but stopped playing about halfway through the third or fourth repetition because it lacked enough content to repeat. Still a fun, but short game.

ME3 was just a bad script read by a mix of good and half asleep voice actors. The game play was good so while it didn't live up to ME1 & 2, I found it enjoyable so long as I didn't think about the ending sequence. The revised ending just made me more annoyed.

Haven't played ME3 yet because I was pretty disappointed w/ ME2's end boss basically being a complete ripoff of Contra 3...

I looked up the Contra 3 final boss, and I'm not seeing the similarity at all. I mean, they're both big and they both have arms they try to hit you with...that's about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg61yRc_0ds

The protest against ME3's ending might be the best news for the industry, as it showed that players are concerned and can express their opinions and their feelings in a quite adult way.

While initially derided by some, including our Kyle, and reduced to complaints about Shepard dying (which was only the opinion of a minority), the movement gained momentum and revealed that Bioware had made a few big mistakes during development. It also had people making constructive criticism, debating about the nature of videogame storytelling and contributing to a lot of lore (cf. "Marauder Shields"). It was also amazing to see that many of the debates took place on the Bioware forums without censorship.

It's easier to yell that something sucks than to explain why it sucks. The online community was able to explain what went wrong with then ending, and it's a big moment for any popular culture, similar to what "Mr. Plinkett" achieved with his video reviews of the Star Wars prequels for Red Letter Media.

And can we please stop treating Mass Effect's ending "debacle" like a real issue? It wasn't that bad.

I think the bigger problem surrounding the ending was the complete non-mention it got in reviews, and subsequent tone deafness from the press. What ever you think of the ending I think we can all agree it was not up to the standard set by the rest of the game.

And ME3's ending remained poor even after the changes.

I'm hard pushed to even call it 'changed'. It was just a slightly more verbose version of the original ending. Being short wasn't its problem but how unfulfilling it was. It was disjointed and lazy and lacked closure. And had it been just one bad ending out of many different ones (depending on your actions throughout the series) then it wouldn't have been that big an issue.

I still think ME was a phenomenal series though. Its problem was simply that the emotional investment didn't pay off.

Know how I know it's not the players? Because those same players can go back to Diablo 2 and have a merry ol' time. Then they go to Diablo 3 and they don't.

Diablo 3 was a turd. Jay Wilson should be dragged down a dusty, gravel-covered road with briar bushes lined along the sides, then thrown onto a bed of nails. Flogged. Whipped. Strung up by his short 'n curlies, made to watch Glitter 6,666 times in a row. Forced to eat old liver pie, poorly made Mincemeat pie, and then given a laxative.

He should be forced to personally go to each victim's house who bought the game and apologize in person for it. He should be forced to pay each one every dollar they spent on the game. Then all those who were forced to suffer through it should be gathered into an arena and on a stage, Jay Wilson can arrive, tied and bound.

Then those gamers can all take turns branding PVP into him with a branding iron. Each time for yet another month that's gone by without the release of said "soon to release" content.

After he's broken, sobbing, a shell of a man, then he can be dragged lifelessly toward a PC to be forced to do the worst punishment of all:

He should be forced to play Diablo 3 while everyone around him is playing Torchlight 2 and having a merry time of it. More than that, his PC should have intermittent ISP failures. Randomly. Every 1-20 minutes.